


Long-Standing

by FallacyFallacy



Category: Little Busters!
Genre: Coming Out, Established Relationship, Family Drama, Gen, M/M, Queer Themes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-11
Updated: 2013-06-11
Packaged: 2017-12-14 14:38:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/838007
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FallacyFallacy/pseuds/FallacyFallacy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Riki and Kyousuke reveal their relationship to their parents. Some things happen as expected. Some things don't.</p><p>Written for <a href="http://queer-fest.dreamwidth.org/">Queer_Fest</a> for the prompt <i>Any fandom, any character, You lost your entire family coming-out, so it's really unfair that your partner's family barely blinks when he/she brings you home for Christmas.</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	Long-Standing

**Author's Note:**

> So this is really more about probing at family relationships than Riki and Kyousuke specifically. Sorry! But for the disappointed, do not be distressed - I have a _very_ long Riki/Kyousuke fic in the works that I am absolutely determined to finish which will be very, very much about them.

It wasn't, as Kyousuke was becoming increasingly fond of reminding Riki, technically the first time they had gone out.

Sure, when Riki confessed those months ago it was the first time he had expressed these feelings in words to Kyousuke, and when Kyousuke responded, the same was true for him. And sure, for all intents and purposes, they were newly a couple, something neither boy allowed anyone to forget about for even a moment for a few weeks there (much to their friends' great distress).

But if you wanted to be very, very technical, the first time they dated happened long ago, back when Riki was seven years old.

It was all Masato's fault to begin with. They'd all been sitting down eating lunch at school and Kyousuke had been talking about something he and Riki had done together when, during a break in his story, an idea had set upon Masato.

“Hey, Kyousuke,” he had said with a wide grin. “Do you like Riki, or do you _like_ -like him?”

“Like like,” Kyousuke responded without hesitation. And then, with remarkable confidence for one who clearly had not even considered the idea until asked about it just now, continued, “in fact, we're boyfriends.”

“Oooh,” said Kengo and Masato at once, eyes wide. Riki's were as well as he stared, for this was news to him, too.

“Um...”

Kyousuke turned to him. “Do you want to be my boyfriend, Riki?”

Riki thought about it. Kyousuke was really nice and funny and smart and handsome and they were great friends and Kyousuke was totally mature and if they were boyfriends that meant that Kyousuke cared about Riki most of all and that idea made him really happy. Being boyfriends seemed like a big responsibility, but Kyousuke could handle anything, so it would probably be okay. So he nodded and said “Yes!”

“Awesome! We're boyfriends, then.” Kyousuke smiled.

“Stupid, boys can't go out with boys,” Rin pointed out over her juicebox.

“They can if I say they can! I like Riki so I'm going out with him, and that's that.”

Apparently having no response to this argument (which, Riki had to admit, was very convincing), Rin rolled her eyes and returned to her juice.

And so their relationship began.

It wasn't too different to normal, really. Kyousuke looked out for him a lot, but Kyousuke did that a lot anyway, so it mostly just meant that they hugged more. (Every time they did that Masato went all 'Wooooo!' and made Riki blush but he liked still liked doing it anyway so he tried to ignore it.) They told everyone they could, too, of course, and even though Kyousuke's parents always seemed to be laughing at them like they thought they weren't mature enough to be boyfriends everything was actually working out really well so they totally showed them.

Riki still had a lot to learn, though, of course.

“What are you drawing, Rin-chan?” Kyousuke's mom asked one afternoon when they were colouring at his and Rin's house.

“That's me,” Rin said proudly. “Looking after the cats.”

“You look so grown-up! Do you still want to be a veterinarian, then?”

“But only for cats,” she reminded them, and Kyousuke's mom chuckled.

“What about you, then, Kyousuke? What do you want to be this week?”

“Well, that depends on what Riki wants to be.”

Riki looked up from the dog he was drawing and blinked. “Huh? Why?”

“Because if we're boyfriends then we're going to get married eventually and then one of us will have to be the wife and look after the house. Normally it'd be the girl, but since we're both boys, I think we can choose,” he explained logically.

“Is that how it works?” his mom asked, and Kyousuke nodded.

“Of course!”

“Hmm...” Riki thought to himself. Kyousuke was so smart and knew so much about the world! “It's okay, you can be the husband.”

“Really? Are you sure?”

“Yep! I don't mind looking after things so you can do whatever you want!”

Kyousuke grinned. “Awesome!” He turned back to his mom. “In that case, I wanna be a wizard.”

“Wow, that sounds cool!”

“Yeah! And then I can magic up us food every night, so we won't have to worry about money, either!”

“Ahh, of course!” It was so obvious when he said it like that! He really was glad to have him as his boyfriend.

“You've really put a lot of thought into this,” his mom commended them, after taking a sip of her tea. “I'm sure you'll have a wonderful marriage.”

“Of course we will,” Kyousuke scoffed, like it was obvious, but the comment made Riki smile all the same.

The only other thing that Riki could remember in retrospect occurred on White Day. On Valentine's earlier that year, Kyousuke had surprised Riki by giving him this big box filled with chocolates that he said he made himself (with his mom's help, of course). They were a little gooey but they were really really really really sweet and delicious and Riki couldn't stop smiling as he ate them. So, of course, he absolutely _had_ to make something in return for him on White Day.

It happened when he came into the kitchen the day beforehand to talk to one of his guardians.

“Um, excuse me,” he said, waiting for her to turn to him in faint bemusement. “Could I please make some chocolate for Kyousuke? He's my boyfriend,” he explained off-handedly.

But his guardian stared at him, face blank. “What did you say?”

“Umm...” Riki looked down. He didn't know what had happened but he knew instantly he'd done something wrong. “I just wanted to make some chocolate.”

His guardian was silent, arm frozen holding her mug of tea halfway to her mouth. Slowly, she put it down.

“Wouldn't you rather give chocolates to a girl?” Despite the friendliness of the words, something about the way she said them made Riki worried to look back up again.

“I...don't know.”

Again the silence. Riki picked at his sleeve. His guardians usually didn't talk to him very much, but when they did they tended to say what they wanted quickly so he didn't have to bother them. He kinda wanted sometimes for them to take longer but right now he really wished they wouldn't.

“I think you had better not.”

Riki tried not to frown. He wanted to protest – Kyousuke had gone to so much trouble to make something for him, how could he just not give him anything back at all? - but when his guardian was looking at him like that it was all he could do not to run away.

“Okay.”

“Good boy.”

Riki picked at his sleeve again.

“You can go.”

Riki nodded, walking quickly up to his room.

There, he closed the door and sat on his bed. What was he supposed to do now? He sniffed, rubbing his cheeks. What kind of boyfriend couldn't give something back to his boyfriend on White Day? Kyousuke was always doing so much for him, but he couldn't even do this...

That night, he curled himself in his blankets, feeling impossibly guilty.

At school the next day, he avoided Kyousuke as long as he could. Naturally, this meant six minutes.

“Riki, what's wrong?” Kyousuke asked, having cornered him behind the back building.

Riki dropped his head. “I'm sorry.” Already he felt the tears rising up in him.

“What is it?”

Sniffing, Riki turned his backpack around to take out a single carefully folded piece of paper.

“It's for White Day. I wanted to make you chocolates but I couldn't so I made this...”

Kyousuke took it seriously. It was shaped roughly like a heart, coloured in brown like chocolate. Riki's hand was still hurting from colouring in so much, but at least it was something.

“Riki, this is great! I love it!” Kyousuke beamed, holding the heart tenderly.

“But...” Riki looked down at the ground, trying not to cry. “You tried really hard to make me chocolate, and...”

Kyousuke stepped forwards, wrapping his arms around Riki. Immediately, Riki hugged him back, burying his forehead in Kyousuke's shoulder.

“I don't care. You worked really hard on this, too, right? That's all I need. I'm glad you're my boyfriend, Riki.”

Riki sniffed.

Kyousuke pulled away. He studied Riki's face for a few moments, looking serious. And then -

He pressed his lips against Riki's cheek.

Riki stared at him, totally shocked.

Kyousuke shrugged, blushing a little, but still grinning as widely as ever. “Don't be sad, okay? You're my boyfriend. If you're sad then that makes me sad, too.”

When Riki still didn't respond, Kyousuke coughed, looking away.

“W-well, I guess I'd better get to my class, then! See you later, Riki!” He waved, dashing off before Riki could even respond.

Riki touched his cheek, staring off at where Kyousuke had disappeared.

He'd kissed him. Kissed him! He'd just had his first kiss, ever!

Riki giggled, cheeks going completely hot. From now on, he swore, he would always treasure this moment and never forget it. 

But as time went on, Kyousuke, who had never exactly had the greatest attention span in the first place, got out of the habit of hugging Riki and there was no-one left to tell and so soon, the times when they acknowledged that they were boyfriends became less and less. After a while, Riki started to forget about it most of the time, and even if it was kinda sad, he trusted that Kyousuke still cared about him so it was okay.

As the years went on, it turned from a nice thing that Riki was glad had happened into this funny little game he and Kyousuke used to play when they were younger.

And then it turned into a weird thing that he didn't really understand and made him uneasy so he tried not to think about it.

And then it turned into something that Riki absolutely refused to acknowledge at all, fervently repressing the memories every time they surfaced, eye twitching into a glare at even the suggestion that someone else might bring it up again.

And then they started going out all over again, and, well...

“If you can't find a present for me you could always make me a heart and colour it in brown,” Kyousuke said casually one day.

Riki groaned.

*

The two were silent.

Riki glared determinedly out of the window, watching the houses and streets pass as they drove. His phone was clutched tightly in his hands, screen still open to a single message: 'Come get me.'

'Okay' was the one-word response.

Kyousuke knew that if he wanted to explain he would do so. Riki knew that and appreciated it and his silence impossibly, the sound of his breath beside him calming him more than any words ever could. But it still assumed that Riki had any idea what he wanted.

This was new to him. Having family drama necessitated having a family, after all.

He still wasn't sure if that was what this was.

“They didn't,” he said.

Kyousuke exhaled a breath. “That sucks.”

Nothing more needed to be said. Riki snorted. “Yeah.” That about summed it up.

The houses outside became more familiar. “Sorry, I'm bothering your family again...”

Kyousuke shrugged. “You'll never be a bother to us, Riki.”

“But...it's different now, I'm not a kid anymore...”

“Everyone needs help sometimes. Even adults.”

Riki pursed his lips.

The car arrived in the driveway. “And they were okay with it?”

“Completely,” Kyousuke reassured him, glancing his way as he parked.

“Of course.”

The car stopped but Riki didn't move. Kyousuke didn't, either.

“Just...” Riki breathed in deeply. “Kinda annoying that we have to do this now.”

Kyousuke put a hand over his, curling his fingers under his palm. “You don't need to explain.”

“I should.”

“You don't need to.”

“I should.”

Kyousuke stroked his hand. Finally, Riki curled his hand over his, too.

After a moment he got up and closed the door. With a nod, Kyousuke followed, and they made their way to the door.

Kyousuke's mother looked at them with wide eyes, made even wider when she saw their despondent faces. “What's wrong?”

“Um, I'm terribly sorry to bother you,” Riki said as politely as he could, “but is it possible I could stay here again for a while?”

“Of course – you're always welcome here, Riki-kun.”

Riki nodded awkwardly, stepping forward into this house he knew almost as well as...well, not his own, he supposed. He never really spent much time there, anyway. His guardians'.

“Riki-kun.” Kyousuke's father walked through the door to the kitchen, eyebrows raised. “What brings you here?”

 _Damn._ Riki rubbed the back of his neck. At he'd be able to get it over with in one go. Rin was around somewhere, too, but she wouldn't demand an explanation. Hell, she might not even notice something was different until someone outright told her about it. The thought almost made him chuckle.

“Just...my guardians. They, ah-” He coughed, glancing back and forth between the parents' eyes. “They weren't too into the idea of me and Kyousuke going out,” he admitted slowly.

Almost as one, their expressions shifted, falling.

“I'm sorry,” Kyousuke's dad said, looking genuinely sympathetic.

Riki shrugged. “It wasn't all that unexpected, to be honest.”

“But they didn't kick you out, did they?” Kyousuke's mother asked, brow furrowed like she couldn't understand.

“Er, not quite. But I thought I...wouldn't like to stay. Sorry.”

“It's fine, you can stay as long as you like,” Kyousuke's mother assured him.

“Thank you.”

“But still...it's really strange.” Kyousuke's dad crossed his arms, mouth pinched. “I mean, this can't be news to them, can it?”

There was a lump in Riki's throat all of a sudden – a lump of everything he wasn't feeling and shouldn't have been feeling and did feel back in the car, back at the house, and he blinked a couple of times, facing down at the ground.

“Er...yeah.”

Finally Kyousuke spoke, at Riki's side like always. “So he can stay for now, then?”

“Absolutely,” Kyousuke's mother agreed, hands clasped firmly in her lap.

“Take as long as you need,” his father continued.

“Thank you. Thank you.”

“Need something to eat, drink?” Kyousuke asked, and after Riki paused and nodded, smiled cheerfully, gesturing for Riki to follow him as he left. Riki nodded gratefully at Kyousuke's parents again and allowed Kyousuke to lead him to the back of the house.

Kyousuke stopped at the porch, sitting down on the steps. Riki sat beside him, looking out at the backyard. Already a couple of cats were making their way towards them, heads inclined into their hands.

The weather was warm, whispering of the heat of summer to come. A breeze blew and Riki closed his eyes. He didn't bother to wonder how Kyousuke knew what he needed just now. It was no new feat.

Riki patted one absently, looking out of the corner of his eye as Kyousuke did the same, already half-covered by various cats.

“They really didn't kick me out,” he said finally.

Kyousuke turned to him. “Then what was it?”

Riki scratched the cat – a little black and white one that mewled cutely. “They didn't disown me or anything. Quite the opposite. They wanted to reconcile.”

Kyousuke stared at him, and for good reason. “Reconcile?”

“Their words.”

The cats gamboled around, oblivious to the tension.

“You want to know why?” Riki's voice was starting to shake. He stopped, swallowing.

Kyousuke nodded.

“They think it's their fault. Something about no father figure or something. They really freaked out when I told them – started going on and on about how they'd neglected me.” He spoke lightly, but he didn't bother to disguise the waver in his voice. Kyousuke would be able to tell, anyway.

“Riki...”

“So they became convinced they were terrible guardians. Or whatever. And they wanted to make up for everything, I guess. And, you know, that, that wouldn't have always been a bad thing? I mean, under normal circumstances, if they'd said that, I just would've been kinda confused but I would have – but even then...” Riki grit his teeth, steadying his voice. “Well, obviously they blamed you as well. So they didn't want me talking to you. And since I'm still technically underage and all, I couldn't really do much to stop them keeping me there and...well. Sorry, I kinda overreacted. But.”

Riki tried to continue, but that was about it. “But,” he finished.

It was quiet out here. He heard the muffled sound of a car going by on the road in front of the house, and the cat on Riki's lap meowed irritably when he stopped stroking it, but beyond that remained only the sound of their breathing.

“Riki...” Kyousuke took his hand. All of a sudden there was that thing rising in his throat again and he had to blink away tears. He scratched behind the cat's head again, looking down at it as it nuzzled into him.

“So yeah. I guess I might have ruined everything now.”

“You didn't ruin anything,” Kyousuke said firmly. “Anything they did was of their own choice. Your reaction was perfectly reasonable.”

“If they just hadn't – tried to keep me there, then – they took away my phone, too, I had to look for it when they went out so I could message you...”

“I understand.”

“But...” Riki flipped his hand over so he could hold Kyousuke's. “I mean...it's not like they were entirely off, were they.”

“...what do you mean?”

“Well, I...” Riki's mouth was dry. He had a feeling he knew how Kyousuke was going to respond, but he still needed to say it. “I mean...maybe it did affect me. I never really thought about it, but... with everything that happened, then... Maybe they did screw me up a little.”

There was a short, sharp moment where Riki winced. He hadn't meant to use that kind of language, but it wasn't really inaccurate, so...

“Riki.” Suddenly Kyousuke was in front of him, hand clasped almost painfully tightly around his, looking as serious as he had ever seen him. “You're not screwed up.”

“I just meant – with me relying on you guys too much and everything, that-”

“And you stepped up, didn't you?” This close, Kyousuke's red eyes were almost painfully intense. “You saw the problem and you did what you had to to solve it. Not many people can say that about themselves. Almost none. Everyone has flaws, Riki, but I've never seen anyone with the kind of strength to make themselves into a better person the way you did.”

Riki's breath caught.

“And all along, you have been an incredible person. Kind, helpful, trustworthy – if all people were more like you the world would be a far better place.”

Riki looked away, unable to take his gaze anymore. “N-now you're going too far...”

“I'm not.” Kyousuke placed a hand on his cheek, softly. “I love you. And so do Kengo and Masato and Rin and Kamikita and all of the others. If there's anyone here who's wrong, it's your guardians. Not you.”

Riki let out a little 'heh'. Despite himself, he felt himself smiling. He looked up at Kyousuke again, squeezing his hand.

“Thanks.”

Kyousuke's eyes twinkled and he smiled as well, expression immediately becoming easy and friendly yet somehow never losing that intensity.

They kissed, and Riki closed his eyes, breathing in.

“Sorry,” he said shortly, but before he could continue, Kyousuke spoke over him.

“You don't need to apologise.”

“Well...then...whatever. It's just kind of an awful situation.”

“...yeah.”

Riki sighed, wrapping his arms around Kyousuke. “Would it be...ungrateful if I said that I was kinda tired of having to deal with this sort of thing? It's been so long, but...somehow, it still feels like it all just happened...”

“No. Not at all.”

Riki continued to hug Kyousuke, but then the latter shivered.

“Eh?”

“Ah...sorry.” Kyousuke smiled lopsidedly, awkwardly. “It's just a little uncomfortable...”

“Oh!” Kyousuke was still squatting on the steps in front of Riki, knees digging into the hard edges. “Geez, you didn't think that through, did you...?”

“Not at all!”

“Why on earth would you act proud of that...? Geez.” Riki sighed, then stood up, letting go of Kyousuke's hand at last. “Well, thanks for listening, anyway.”

“Any time,” Kyousuke said, with almost startling genuineness.

They came back inside to find Kyousuke's parents still talking in the living room. Rin was there too, now, with a complicated expression even Riki didn't quite understand.

“Riki!” she said, standing up immediately.

“Um, hey!”

“Riki-kun, as we were just saying,” spoke Kyousuke's mother with a kind smile, “you're more than welcome to take the guest bedroom for as long as you need.”

“Ah, thank you-”

“And we were just thinking...” Kyousuke's dad said, a hand to his chin. “My sister has been needing some help at her shop. Maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea if you helped her out?”

“O-oh, that would be great,” Riki answered immediately, a little confused. But he couldn't deny how much of a relief it was to find a job over the summer – he'd need to be paying his own way as much as he could now, but with his condition, finding work would not be easy. “Then I'll definitely pay you rent as well-”

“Nonsense.” Kyousuke's mother shook her head once, firmly. “You're part of the family, Riki. You always have been. And...” Her eyes sparkled as she glanced at Kyousuke. “Even more so now, no?”

Riki kept waiting for the words to come, but they didn't. After some long moments, he bowed, deeply, and said simply “thank you.”

When he looked up, Rin was smiling at him, but then looked away, embarrassed.

“Thanks,” he said again.

“But definitely the guest bedroom.” Kyousuke's dad folded his arms, looking at the two of them sternly. “You might've been in the same room for years, but not anymore.”

After a moment, Riki went bright red, and even Kyousuke coughed beside him. “E-er...”

“At least until you're over-age!” Kyousuke's mother added almost sweetly. There was the quiet sound of a bell jingling – Rin had disappeared entirely.

“Fine,” Kyousuke said shortly, and Riki caught a muffled laugh from his mother as she watched him. “Of course. We'll just be off, then...”

“Take care!” Kyousuke's mother called after them as Kyousuke pulled him upstairs. Trying not to blush, he waved goodbye to her, and she waved back.

Kyousuke glared a little as they walked up to the second floor. It was always a little strange to see Kyousuke with his parents – Riki was so used to thinking of him as the ultimate authority that even now it surprised him now and then to remember that he was still someone else's child.

“Still...that was really kind of them,” Riki said as they reached the top.

Kyousuke turned around, expression softening. “It's like they said – you are family.”

“...yeah.” Riki leaned against the wall. He still...wasn't sure what to think about that. He already had a family and parents – the fact that they were dead didn't change that. And there was something about this that made him very uneasy – the way Kyousuke's parents were being so welcoming to him in a way that his guardians, who were theoretically his adopted parents, never had been. He'd always contented himself with the thought that if his real parents had lived, they would have loved him that way. It wasn't something about his guardians, it was just that they weren't his real parents. But...

Kyousuke tilted his head up and kissed him. “I love you,” he said.

Riki chuckled, pressing his lips up to his as well. “Love you, too.”

And then Kyousuke was grabbing his hand, dragging him to his room. “Come on – you still have some stuff in my room, right? We should move it over. And maybe we should go back to your house and get your stuff, too... Would your guardians be out at the same time?”

“I think so,” Riki said, allowing himself to be lead.

He didn't really know. But right now, here, with Kyousuke and Rin and their family, he felt happy. And for now, that was enough.


End file.
